Review: Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Published: April 5, 2016

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help? It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son. In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

My Thoughts

I really wanted to love this read, it had all the potential in the world and had the elements I was looking for to get me out of my book slump but sadly it just wasn’t all that I was looking for. Not to say that it was bad which it wasn’t it just didn’t live up to the hype I was expecting.

We met Jessie who has moved from the only home she has ever known to California when her dad remarries. She is thrown into a new home with a new insta family and she doesn’t like it all. Her new school is a prep school and she soon finds herself the object of someone who claims they want to help her. She soon finds herself talking to a stranger but strangely she feels so open to this person she feels like she can tell them anything.

Honestly, I figured out who this person was very quickly and while I think it was cute I honestly found myself getting annoyed by Jessie. I get that she was upset about her father remarrying and that she was still getting over her mothers' death but I found that she was really whiny and very rude. I get that whole “teen” attitude thing but she really didn’t give people a chance and some points in the book I was really over her.

While many people found this so swoon-worthy sadly I didn’t. I thought it was an okay read I didn’t have any real emotions one way or another. I will say I did listen to the audiobook so maybe that had something to do with it because there were so many text messages maybe I would feel different if I actually read it. In the end, I thought this was a middle of the road read for me and who knows maybe if it the circumstances were different I would’ve felt different about it.

Review: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Published: originally in 1970

Publisher: Delacorte Books BYR

Format: Kindle buy

Rating: 5/5

Add to Goodreads * Buy: Amazon

Synopsis

Margaret Simon, almost twelve, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she's anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she's asked to join a secret club she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she's normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for her to talk about, even with her friends. Lucky for Margaret, she's got someone else to confide in... someone who always listens.

My Thoughts

This year I wanted to revisit a book from my childhood and, of course, Judy Blume was my only real choice. Her books were my childhood I remember reading her books and feeling so grown up. Reading a Judy Blume book was like she was reading my mind and she knew what was in my soul, she was everything to me.

So I decided to revisit the ultimate…Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. I haven’t read this in honestly decades and it was a good visit. I found myself laughing and reliving the moments and realizing it was still THAT good. Margaret was like any twelve-year-old who was coming into her own and questioning everything from her body, friendship, crushes and religion. I love how no matter how old this book is every generation can learn from it. While the times have changed the core aspects of growing up will never change and that’s what makes her books so timeless and amazing!

Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Expected Publication: September 1, 2015

Publisher: Delacorte BYR

Format: via NetGalley

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW 

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house; have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

My Thoughts

Oh the feels!! Yep that’s all I can say about this wonderfully written tale. No book has made me feel this way in a long time and to think I was thisclose to not reading it! Silly me!! However I am glad I did and I encourage everyone to read this if you can.

This is the tale of Maddy who is allergic to the outside world and who is all alone in her “world” she is just left with her mom, nurse and her books. She never thought of anything else until one day some new neighbors moved in next door and little did she know this one little action would change her whole world and most importantly her life.

Olly and his family move in and soon he is mesmerized by the girl next door. He doesn’t know at first why he never sees her outside but soon they exchange emails after some exchanges via their bedroom windows. Maddy for some reason feels like she can trust Olly right away and tells him that she isn’t like other people. Soon their emails are on regular basics and Maddy realizes that she is falling for him but knows that it can never lead anywhere; she knows she can never have a normal relationship with him. But none of that matters for either one of them because they can’t deny that they are falling for each other.

Olly has his own problems with a dad who is a drunk and is abusive. He is always hitting Olly and his mother and one day that action causes Maddy to do the unthinkable she bolts from her house and has to know if Olly is alright. Olly tells her to go back that he is ok and her mom pleads with her to go inside that she knows what might happen if she doesn’t. Her mother has always been so protective of Maddy, especially since it’s just the two of them after the deaths of her father and brother years ago. However after that night Maddy realizes she loves Olly too much and now that she has felt the outside world she knows she cannot live the way she did before, doing so isn’t living to her anymore.

What comes next sets off a chain reaction of things that I never saw coming. Maddy sets a plan to leave with Olly and live the time she has left with the person she loves and at least live for a bit. They set off to Hawaii and when she becomes sick she thinks that’s the end, but what happens next is something she could never imagine. I won’t spoil the rest for you but all I can say is WOW! I for one never saw the next things happening in my wildest dreams. We find out some truth and how some of them are just downright twisted and sad. I was heartbroken then mad talk about a rollercoaster of emotions! This is one book I totally recommend everyone reading. Maddy and Olly are so adorable and this read while emotional is totally sweet at the same time. I love when a read throws me for a loop and I’m so glad I took the chance on reading this one, and personally I think you should too.